Device for spreading granular or powdery material



y 1955 c. VAN DER LELY ETAL 3,197,214

DEVICE FOR SPREADING GRANULAR OR POWDERY MATERIAL Original Filed Jan.26, 1959 INVENTORS CORNELL, g/LQY VAN DER LELV United States Patent C)3,17,214 DEVICE SPREADHNG GRAIJEJL AR UR PQWDERY MATEREAL (Iornaiis vander Leiy, Zug, Switzerland, and Ary van der Lely, Maasland, Netherlands,assignors to C. van der Leiy N.V., Maasiand, Netherlands, a Dutchlimitedliabiiity company Original application Jan 26, 195%, Ser. No.788,334, new ?atent No. 3,938,643, dated June 12, 1%2. Divided and thisapplication May 31, 1962, Ser. No. 19,19 19 Claims. (ill. 2'7515) Thisapplication, which is a divisional application of application Serial No.788,884 now Patent Nov 3,038,643, relates to a device for spreadinggranular or powdery material, comprising a material container from whichthe material to be spread is delivered, an agitating member mounted insaid container so as to be movable relative to the container wall, saidagitating member being driven during operation by a mechanism movableabout an axis extending vertically or substantially vertically in thecontainer.

in accordance with the invention the agitating member has at least onearm, the lower end of which is coupled to the mechanism at a distancefrom the said axis, the arm extending from the said coupling to themechanism upwardly in a direction to the container wall and the upperportion of the arm being bowed away from the container wall andextending in the direction of the axis and being borne near said axis ata point higher than the coupling of the lower end of the arm to themechanism.

With the construction according to the invention a sim- 'ple agitatingmember can be obtained, with which the material can be delivered in aneffective way from the conrainer.

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same maybe carried into effect, reference will now be made to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a container of a device according to theinvention, comprising an agitating member,

FIG. 2 is a sectional View of the container as shown in FIG. 1, theagitating member occupying a different position,

FIG. 3 shows, on an enlarged scale, a view of the connecting means withwhich the agitating member is coupled to the stub shaft of the discbelow the container.

As shown in the figures, the device of the embodiment according to theinvention comprises a container 1, which consists of a conical portion 2and a cylindrical portion 3. Underneath the container 1 provision ismade of a mechanism 4 which is formed by a disc and is capable ofrotating about an axis of rotation 5, which extends vertically in thecontainer. Between the container 1 and the mechanism 4 an annulus 6 isarranged, the upper end of which surrounds the cylindrical portion 3,whereas the lower end bears on the disc 4 constituting partly the bottomof the container. The annulus 6 is provided with outlet ports 7. Thematerial delivered through the outlet ports 7 is supplied by way of thedisc 4 which extends over a small distance beyond the annulus 6 tospreading arms 8 which are provided on the disc 4.

In order to ensure a satisfactory supply of material out of thecontainer to the outlet ports'7, an agitating member 9 is arrangedinside the container to prevent caking of the material in the container.The agitating member consists of one arm having several portions andbowed from one piece of material. In order to cause the member 9 to moverelative to the container, it is coupled with its lower end with themechanism 4. The connection of the agitating member 9 to the mechanismor disc 4 is Patented July 27, 1965 realized at a distance from the axis5. The connection of the agitating member 9 with the mechanism 4 isobtained by means of a stub shaft 14 connected to the disc 4 andsurrounded by a sleeve 11. The sleeve 11 is connected to the shaft It bymeans of a pin 31 mounted in holes in the sleeve 1-1 and the shaft 1%,which holes are in alignment. This pin 31 has a curved portion 32 whichcan grasp behind a lug 33 mounted to the sleeve 11. The sleeve 11 isprovided with two tags 12 and 13 having holes through which a shaft 14constituting the lower end of the member 9 is taken. The shaft 14 issecured against displacement in the holes of the tags 12 and 13 by meansof a ring v15, arranged on the shaft 14, and by means of a pin 16. Theshaft 14 is arranged in the holes of the tags 12 and 13 so that it iscapable of turning in these holes. These holes constitute a firstbear-ing for the agitating member, whereby it can turn through an angleof 360 about an axis which is constituted by the centre line of theshaft14 arranged parallel to the axis 5.

The agitating member 9 which may be made of one piece of resilientmaterial comprises a portion 17 extending from the shaft .14 in anobliquely upward direction in the container and connected to the shaft14 by means of a bend 23 constituting .a coupling member by means ofwhich the agitating member is resiliently pivotable about a horizontalaxis relative to the stub shaft 10.

The portion 17 extends from the shaft 14 to the contain-er wall and isbent over a bend 19 away from the container wall to constitute astraight upper portion 18 extending from the container wall in thedirection of the axis 5. The end 20 of the portion 18 is bent upwardlyand borne in a member constituted by a bearing 21 which is centrallyarranged in the container portion 2. The bearing 21 is located at ahigher point in the container than the coupling of the lower end 14 ofthe agitating member 9 with the disc 4- and is mounted in the container1 by means of rods 22 and 23. The shaft 14 is integral with the portions17 and 18 whereby the agitating member consists of only one arm, Theshaft 14 which is at right angles to the disc 4 goes over via thecoupling member 28 into the portion 17 which is at an obtuse angle tothe shaft 14. The centre line of the bearing 21 around which the upperend 21 of the member 9 is movable coinoides with the axis of rotation 5constituted by the centre line of the stub shaft 10, whereas thestraight portion 18 intersects the axis 5 at an angle of or about 90 andthe portion 17 extends, in the central position of the agitating member(see FIG. 1), mainly along the Walls of the conical-shaped portion 2 ofthe container 1. The portion 17 is provided with two stops or rings 24and 25 between which is arranged an element shaped as a bushing 26 whichis capable of turning about the portion 17. In the central position ofthe member 9 the bushing extends in an upwards direction at a height 29which is nearly as long as the length of the port-ion 17, and which issomewhat longer than half the height 39 of the agitating member 9. Thelength of the bushing 26 is slightly smaller than thedistance betweenthe rings 24 and 25, so that this bushing is movable between the ringsin a diection parallel to the portion .17. The bushing 26 is providedwith pins or extensions 27 which are at right angles to the longitudinaldirection of the portion 17 and will agitate the material in thecontainer to satisfactory looseness, upon a movement of the member 9.

During the operation of the device the mechanism or driving means i willrotate about the axis 55, whilst the tags 12 and 13 and the shaft 14will follow the said movement about the axis 5, since the sleeve 11 isrigidly secured to the stub shaft iii. If the container is filled withthe material to be spread, the member 9 is not capable of following therotation of the shaft 14- in the container, since the resistance exertedby the material on the said member will be too heavy. If the portions 17and 18 of the member 9 cannot follow the shaft 14 during its rotationabout the axis 5, these portions will be deformed, since the position ofthe shaft 14 changes. These deformations will occur between the state ofequilibrium of the member 9, shown in FIGURE 1, and the state in whichthe shaft 14 is most remote from the state of equilibrium, as is shownin FIGURE 2. During the movement of the shaft 14 about the axis 5, theportions 17 and 18 will perform a swin ing motion in a subtantiallyvertical direction. Owing to this swinging motion, during whichparticularly the pins 27 provided on the bushing 26 are capable ofperforming a scratching movement in the material, the material will becontinuously supplied to the ports '7. When the mechanism 4 rotates, themember 9 will always tend to maintain its state of equilibrium, so thatit will tend to rotate with the mechanism 4 about the axis 5. Thus, ifthe material tends to cake in the container and if the member 9 has madea cavity in the material, the member 9 will continuously be urgedagainst the wall of this cavity, so that it digs continuously furtherthrough the material and rotates slowly around the axis moving along thecontainer wall, a constant supply to the ports 7 being thus ensured. Thementioned movement of the agitating member in the container has theadvantage that this movement requires only little energy.

The member 9 can be rapidly removed out of the container by removing thepin 31. The pin 31 can be readily removed by turning the same in theholes in the sleeve 11 and the shaft 11 and by unhooking the portion 32from the lug 33 and by withdrawing the pin 3]. from the sleeve 11 andthe shaft 10, after which the sleeve 11 with the member 9 can be takenout of the container. A stop 34 is provided on the sleeve 11 to preventa turning of the portion 32 to the wrong side instead of behind the lug33 when mounting the agitator to the shaft 10.

What we claim is:

1. A device for spreading material comprising a material holding hopper,an ejector disc arranged below said hopper, said hopper having at leastone outlet port for delivering material, a shaft extending upwardly inthe lower part of said hopper, an arm extending obliquely and upwardlyin said hopper, the lower end of said arm being connected to said shaft,and said arm being movable about a horizontal axis relative to saidshaft, eccentric driving means being provided to move said arm in acircular direction entirely around the inner wall of said hopper andsaid arm extending substantially along the wall of said hopper.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper end of said arm isprovided with a portion extending inwardly to the center of said hopperand being rotatably mounted in a bearing coinciding with the center lineof said hopper.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the center part of saidejector disc constitutes the bottom of said hopper, said shaft isconnected to and extends upwardly from the center of said disc, saiddriving means includes a side member secured to said shaft, the lowerend of said arm being connected to said member and eccentrically androtatably mounted with respect to said shaft.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein an element is rotatablymounted on said arm, said element having projecting extensions.

5. A device as claimed in claim 4, wherein stops are fixed to the armnear both ends of said element.

6. A device for spreading granular or powdery material comprising amaterial holding hopper, an ejector disc arranged below said hopper,said hopper having at least one outlet port for delivering material, ashaft extending upwardly from said disc in the lower part of saidhopper, a side member secured to said shaft, an arm bowed from one pieceof resilient material in said hopper, the lower end of said arm beingborne ecccntrically to the axis of rotation of said disc on said sidemember whereby said arm is rotatable around an axis parallel to the axisof rotation of said disc, a portion of said arm extending from the saidlower end obliquely and upwardly to the hopper wall, an upper end ofsaid arm extending from adjacent said wall inwardly to the center of thehopper and being rotatably mounted in a bearing in the center of thehopper, said bearing having a substantially vertical axis.

7. A device for spreading material, comprising a hopper for the materialto be spread, an agitating member extending upwardly in said hopper, theupper portion of said member being journalled in means supported on saidhopper, driving means movable about an axis extending substantiallyvertically in the hopper, eccentric coupling means to couple the saidagitating member to said driv ing means so as to move the agitatingmember during operation entirely around the hopper wall, said couplingmeans including a quick releasing pin for disconnecting the agitatingmember.

8. A device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the coupling means comprisesa shaft and a sleeve, said shaft being carried in said sleeve, said pinbeing carried in a hole in said shaft.

9. A device as claimed in claim 8, wherein said sleeve includes a lugand said pin includes a bowed end, a hole being provided near said lugin the sleeve in alignment with the hole in said shaft, said pin beingrotatable in the holes and said bowed end lying behind said lug.

10. A device for spreading material comprising a hopper, an ejector discarranged below said hopper, said hopper having at least one outlet portfor delivering material, a shaft extending upwardly in the lower part ofsaid hopper, an arm extending upwardly in said hopper, a bushingrotatable around said arm, said bushing being provided with partsextending laterally in the hopper, said arm being movable about ahorizontal axis relative to said shaft, coupling means to couple thelower end of said arm eccentrically to said shaft to move the agitatingmember during operation relative to the hopper wall, said coupling meansincluding a quick releasing pin for disconnecting the agitating member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,190,168 7/16Holly 222227 X 1,948,021 2/ 34 Burton 222404 X 2,368,127 1/45 Fasick222-232 2,369,508 2/45 White 222--228 X 2,535,414 12/50 Heidger 27515 X2,576,620 11/51 Martin 222228 2,644,618 7/53 Oehler 222--228 X 2,685,3888/54 Steiner 222234 X 2,795,405 6/57 Christopher 259-134 X 2,975,937 3/61 Totten 222228 X 3,038,643 6/ 63 Van Der Lely et a1 222--227 FOREIGNPATENTS 828,384 2/ Great Britain. 174,632 3/61 Sweden.

RAPHAEL M. LUPO, Primary Examiner.

LOUIS J. DEMBO, Examiner.

1. A DEVICE FOR SPREADING MATERIAL COMPRISING A MATERIAL HOLDING HOPPER,AN EJECTOR DISC ARRANGED BELOW SAID HOPPER, SAID HOPPER HAVING AT LEASTONE OUTLET PORT FOR DELIVERING MATERIAL, A SHAFT EXTENDING UPWARDLY INTHE LOWER PART OF SAID HOPPER, AN ARM EXTENDING OBLIQUELY AND UPWARDLYIN SAID HOPPER, THE LOWER END OF SAID ARM BEING CONNECTED TO SAID SHAFT,AND SAID ARM BEING MOVABLE ABOUT A HORIZONTAL AXIS RELATIVE TO SAIDSHAFT, ECCENTRIC DRIVING MEANS BEING PROVIDED TO MOVE SAID ARM IN ACIRCULAR DIRECTION ENTIRELY AROUND THE INNER WALL OF SAID HOPPER ANDSAID ARM EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY ALONG THE WALL OF SAID HOPPER.